July 1, 2016 was the day that The AIR officially became “The AIR” and was also the day that it became the internet radio arm of the PopCult blog. You know, the thing that you’re reading right now.

Our history predates that a little, though. This internet radio station started life as “Voices of Appalachia,” occasionally called “New Appalachian Radio.” It was a product of the WVSU EDC, back when we called their West Side HG “DigiSo.” VOA was the brainchild of Eric Meadows, who launched the station almost ten years ago.

However, after a couple of years Eric got distracted by his other duties. Technical issues made the station go dark for a couple of months and many of our shows departed for WTSQ, so Eric was ready to throw in the towel.  Before he did that, he gave the folks behind three of the remaining shows the chance to take over. I was one of those three, and was the only one who was really committed to keeping it going. We had changed the name of the station to the rather unwieldy moniker “OnTheAIRadio” at the beginning of 2016, but as soon as I became the sole owner, I decided to shorten it to my original suggestion, and The AIR happily became the not-quite red-headed stepchild of PopCult.

On the day we launched I managed to pull off a programming stunt where we debuted the premiere episodes of all of our shows (except for Radio Free Charleston) which were to air over the next week in their regular timeslots. You can see the post about that HERE.

Many of these shows are still going, and a couple of the ones that aren’t have open invitations for their hosts to return,  but today I decided that the best way to observe eight years of The AIR at PopCult was to recreate that programming stunt. Today on The AIR, you will get a chance to hear this week’s new episodes of every one of our music specialty and comedy shows.

Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a new episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a new edition of Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page. These shows will debut in their normal weekly spots, and here’s the playlists for both of them.

First at 2 PM Eastern time, Nigel Pye offers up yet another phantasmagorical sampling of mind-expanding rock music, largely from the era back when even the bad drugs were pretty good for music. Check out the playlist…

Psychedelic Shack 091

Golden Earring “She Flies On Strange Wings”
Grand Funk Railroad “The Railroad”
The James Gang “Lost Woman”
Jefferson Airplane “Eskimo Blue Day”
Jimi Hendrix “Voodoo Chile”
Janis Joplin “I Need A Man To Love”
The Electric Prunes “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)”
The Blues Magoos “Tobacco Road”
Gonn “Blackout of Gretely”

Psychedelic Shack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM.

At 3 PM Herman Linte has cooked up a mixtape of instrumental Prog-rock epics. Some of these tracks are new mixes that have the vocals omitted, while other were always meant to be sans vox. I have to admit that I thought this was such a cool idea that I swiped it for this week’s episode of Beatles Blast.

Prognosis 118

YES “Heart of the Sunrise”
Mel Collins, Chris Poland, Ian Paice “21st Century Schizoid Man”
Peter Gabriel “Digging In The Dirt”
Alan Parsons Project “Where’s The Walrus”
Pallas “Stranger On The Edge of Time”
Frank Zappa “Uncle Remus”
Nightwish “Ghost Love Score”
Edison’s Children “A Million Miles Away”
Steve Hackett “Hammer In The Sand”
Dream Theater “Learning To Live”
Porcupine Tree “Harridan”
Gentle Giant “Aspirations”
Genesis “Do The Neurotic”
King Crimson “In The Court of the Crimson King”
David Bowie “Some Are”
Emerson Lake & Palmer “Toccata”

You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM.  All times listed are Eastern, so if you’re in another timezone, adjust accordingly.

At 8 PM you can hear Neil’s Heavy Concept Album on a recent episode of The Comedy Vault. This one’s a treat for fans of The Young Ones. Yes, it’s that Neil.

Tonight at 9 PM for the Monday Marathon we sort of go nuts. For those of you who are loyal enough listeners (or simply self-destructive), you can tune in and hear a sneak preview of BRAND NEW episodes of all of this week’s music specialty shows (plus a new Comedy Vault). You will hear, in order: MIRRORBALL; Curtain Call; Radio Free Charleston; Sydney’s Big Electric Cat; The Swing Shift; The Comedy Vault and Beatles Blast. The masochists and completists among you can stick around right after and listen to the new episodes of Prognosis and Psychedelic Shack in their regular encore timeslots.

I’m not going to go into any more details here. As these shows air in their regular timeslots through the week, I’ll have the production notes and playlists here for you as though this sneak preview never happened. If you want to get a head start on the week, stay up all night and listen!

It doesn’t seem like eight years. Time flies when you’re having fun.